The Assassin and the Princess

The Sea God had witnessed the fall of his kingdom. It had been so long now, even the Seas had dried up. And little by little, his life had filled with more loss and grief than any heart could bear. The biggest of all: the one of his beloved bride.

Once a God, now an assassin, he had exchanged one mask for another. Once a protector, he was now a killer, his blade as sharp and deadly as the teeth of a shark. But still, his people believed in him, in the Sea God. But he was a God no more, alas maybe, a God of destruction. He was expected to undo the ruin he had caused, for a love he had let consume him. But even now, he couldn’t completely regret refusing his beloved’s sacrifice, nor could he bewail giving her his heart. It was, after all, hers all along.

He knew all the Lemurians were expecting him to retrieve his heart and to save their home. It was, after all, his mistake to mend, but as he broke into the castle and his eyes met with his lost beloved, whose heart he instantly recognized, he knew….that the ruin he had cause would keep following him for ages to come.

He stood before her and her eyes on him were a sight he couldn’t escape. This love was his prison, and maybe, it would always be. And perhaps, even so, he was okay with that… with being drowned by the very existence of her.

Her gaze on him was surprising, a mix of stun and curiosity. She could tell he was an assassin right away, but she didn’t seem scared. “You’re hurt” she pointed out, noticing the wounds on his body. He examined her next moves carefully, when she leaned toward him, and made him the offer he had been waiting for. “How about that? I help you out, and you let me come with you?”

“Well now, why would a Princess like you help an assassin like me?”

“Maybe I need a ticket out of here just as badly as you need my assistance” she shrugged. Rafayel’s lips curled up. It seemed they always ended needing each other, in the most peculiar way. It was almost like fate, rewriting itself, all over again.

Rafayel’s aim was always to approach her and get her out of the castle where there wouldn’t be so many guards around. Only, she wasn’t aware she was playing right into his hand.

She held him as she showed him the way out, moving along the large walls, molding to the shadows, unnoticed. He observed her with a keen eye and could see how desperate she was to get out of here. Maybe she too, was in a prison of her own. Maybe she was as haunted by this place as he was by his past. Perhaps she too was trying to escape and rewrite it all.

Once the coast was clear, they headed to the city. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?” she then asked after a while. “One of these Lemurian assassins?”

Rafayel smirked. “So you do know who you are facing? So tell me, your highness, are you that reckless that you still chose to engage me?”

“Well, you were wounded and needed me. Besides, I figured it you wanted to kill me, you would already have done so already.”

“Or maybe this is all a trap made by my design, and you’re walking right into it.”

She smiled, almost unbothered by his claim. Rafayel wondered....if it was because she could tell that deep down, he wouldn’t harm her or if worse yet, she’d take dying out here over being trapped in that castle. “Maybe such a trap, doesn’t scare me” she finally said.

“So, you are indeed foolish.”

“You got in the castle, got wounded and almost got caught, so tell me, who is the foolish one here?”

Rafayel chuckled. She still had her spark and sharp tongue. And it still amused him as much now as it did then. “Is that so, cutie?” She nodded. Or maybe....She just couldn’t see the manipulation that was right in front of her.

She wasn’t considering, even for a second, that he had come for her, that perhaps he had let himself get into this predicament on purpose, so they’d both be right where they are now. “You are not wary enough, Princess. You should be, after all, you have a heart blessed by the Gods.”

“I have a heart everyone wants, that everyone relies on for Immortality. A heart that traps me in that castle, all for people’s vanity. Am I really blessed, or burdened?”

Rafayel’s eyes darkened. His gift to her, his token of love, had ended up trapping her. Maybe trapping them both. She sighed. “But let us not think about that. I am out of this place for now and I want to enjoy it.” She squinted her eyes, looking up at him. “I didn’t ask for your name…?”

He remained silent for a moment, this singular proof of how she could no longer remember him stinging more than he cared to admit. “Rafayel.”

Well, Rafayel would you show me around the city? Spend the day with me?”

He laughed. “You shouldn’t trust people so idly, but…your wish is my command, your highness.”

And so they did. He brought her to the nicest place in the realm. Her eyes filled with wonder, as though she was seeing it all for the first time and he knew she probably was. It both made him happy and sad, to share this day with her. Her joy was one he was glad to witness, but the life she was leading wasn’t one he could find himself being at peace with.

At the end of the day, they stood by the edge of the city as the sun started coming down to the horizon. “Thank you for this day. I have to say I only have one regret. I wished…I could have seen the Sea.” She whispered, as if lost in thoughts.

Rafayel’s eyes shot with surprise for a moment before a quiet sense of grief came to sink his heart. “I am afraid the Sea is long gone now, Princess. It’s all but dried up.”

She smiled, almost sadly. “I see it sometimes, the Sea, in my dreams. And I have this feeling….like I long to see it. It’s a strange feeling, as though I’ve been there before. I…miss it. Even though it’s all in my dreams.”

Rafayel stilled. So, a part of her, deep down, recalled. Lemuria, the Ocean, the world that they once shared. Even though it was no more than an echo in her subconscious that only came to visit her in her dreams. But knowing it was still there, made his heart pulse with silent glee.

“How about I take you to the place where the ocean used to be next time?”

She grinned, her eyes glistening. “Next time?” She took a peek at the horizon, her expression solemn. “I will hold you to that, Rafayel.”

“We’ll meet again.”

“Don’t make me wait a hundred years.”

He smiled. Maybe he should make her wait a little, for all the time she made him wait, before they got to meet again.

***

Some time passed. Rafayel was haunted by the Sea God’s prophecy, that seemed to be hovering over him more so like a curse each day. “When the God of the Sea is revived, the seas will awaken. To take back what he’s lost, the Sea God must kill his beloved.” His eyes went to the dagger in his hand. He knew what he had to do to secure Lemuria’s future. He had to carve out to Sea God’s heart from his beloved, but such a heart was to be given willingly. But…did he really want the heart back? He hadn’t complied to the prophecy before, and now, even knowing the price, did he want to comply to it still?

***

The Princess had been waiting for the Lemurian’s return, every day since they had separated. She kept waiting, and after some time, she wondered if he would really ever return. She almost came to wonder if she had imagined the entire thing. Maybe she had. But one evening, when she was about to go to attend yet another tedious ball, he appeared, out of the darkness. He parched on her window still, as she gasped with surprise. “Hello, your highness.”

“You’re here.” She said, as if trying to figure out whether her eyes were deceiving her or not.

“I said I would come, didn’t I?” he extended her hand toward her. “Let’s go, shall we? I have somewhere to take you.” And without hesitation, she took his hand, and their fingers intertwined.

They left the castle, discreetly. Rafayel kept his word and took her to the expanse of sand where the ocean once ruled. The sight was uncannily sad, and for a moment, they both just stared, before they sat in the sand. “Do you know…what happened to the Sea? To Lemuria?” asked Rafayel after a moment, wondering how much she really remembered. She shook her head as his eyes stretched to the horizon. “The Sea God lost his heart to a human. As a consequence, Lemuria fell, and the oceans dried. The Sea God travelled for a long time, trying to find his heart.”

“Did he ever find it?”

Rafayel’s eyes bore into hers. [In Lemurian: “The heart is right in front of him”].

The Princess’ curious eyes lingered onto him. “What does it mean?”

“All that was lost shall be found again.”

“So he will find his heart and get it back?”

“He should. To save his home.”

The Princess frowned, confused. “Is it that difficult to find a human?”

“It’s not.”

“Then, why is he hesitating?”

“You have so many questions, Princess. Yet, you do not understand their implications.”

“Explain them to me, then.”

Rafayel grinned, his eyes coming to meet hers once more. “You do not know what you’re asking. You might very well regret this, you know.”

“I want to understand…the world that is yours. The reality that hovers over you, the grief that never leaves your eyes.”

Rafayel gasped, suddenly feeling caught and exposed. Had he been that obvious, or were her eyes simply capable of seeing too much, much more than he had expected her to?

“My reality is one that would devour you, your highness. Trust me, you do not want to go there.”

“But I do!”

“Are you sure, because then, there will be no going back.”

“Show me, please, Rafayel.”

“As you wish.” He stood up, taking her hand as he helped her to her feet. “Let me take you somewhere.”

Rafayel brought the Princess to the place she was asking to be taken, to the ruins of Lemuria, where he was once a Sea God, and she was once his bride. There laid a tablet, that counted Lemuria’s prophecy. The Princess walked among the ruins with a heavy heart, as though she could feel its pain, without totally remembering it. Rafayel’s eyes spoke of a grief, uncontainable. More than that, the price of his love, the weight of his choice.

The Princess stepped forward, observing their surroundings as though she was walking in her dreams. She recognized it, this place, this tablet. She had seen it countless times in her slumber. “Only someone who’s bound to the Sea God can read this lab” Rafayel explained as he clutched his dagger and cut through his hand and hers, before mixing their blood together. Words and symbols swirled around them, unravelling the tome of the Sea God to their eyes. A knowing look crossed the Princess’ eyes as the pieces slowly started to come together. This was all related to her, wasn’t it?“

“What does the prophecy say? How does it relate to me?” she asked.

For the first time since they met, Rafayel seemed to be reluctant to answer. “The Seas will dry up.”

The Princess frowned. She knew this was not all there was to the prophecy. “What else?”

“When the God of the Sea is revived, the seas will awaken. To take back what he’s lost, the Sea God must kill his beloved.”

The Princess froze as all the pieces fell into place. All her dreams colliding, making a very clear image. “My heart…is the Sea God’s heart.” She whispered, the truth hammering through her with painful clarity. Rafayel remained silent when she suddenly grabbed his hand that held the dagger and pressed it against her heart. “Then, I return you your heart, Sea God.”

“Do you even realize what you are asking?” He grunted, holding the dagger back. “You’ll die.”

“This heart was never mine to begin with. It’s yours, it’s the Sea God’s.”

“I am the Sea God no longer, and I don’t need this heart. I do not want it.” Rafayel growled.

“But you need it, to make things right.”

Rafayel froze, as his eyes fell on her. She was desperate to make things right, but….He had already made the only chose he could make. Back then, he couldn’t sacrifice her. He had chosen her, and even now, he realized, he couldn’t make any other choice. She…was the only choice he could ever make, the only choice he would ever make. Besides, what were prophecies but delusions? If Lemuria asked him to kill his beloved, he couldn’t do it. And if he had to rewrite this tale, then he would. He didn’t need this heart, and he didn’t want it. He…never did. This was always his gift, his lingering proof of love, and he wouldn’t take it back. He realized in this moment, he never could.

Rafayel gave her a smile as his face lowered against hers. He kissed her nose as the Princess started feeling groggy. She blinked, as her surroundings started hazing in a fog. She started losing her grasp on reality, and it wasn’t long before she couldn’t even recognize the face in front of her. “Goodbye, my beloved bride” was the last sentence she heard, like a whisper in the wind, that struck her heart like thunder.

***

Rafayel’s eyes were hovering over the horizon. She was back at the castle, her memories lost, the bound between the Sea God and her beloved shattered. She would be safe now, her destiny ruptured from his own. That was the best outcome, right? And yet, he couldn’t help the pain flooding his heart. The entire world would become his prison, now, wouldn’t it? Just like the Sea. There was nowhere he could go where he could escape it.

He grinned, his heart heavy. So many farewells. He was getting tired of them. He made a step forward when a voice called his voice in the distance. He stopped in his tracks, recognizing the voice instantly. “RAFAYEL! What do you think you are doing? Were you just going to leave me?! Is this how you treat your bride?!”

He turned as the Princess urged to him. His face folded with stun. How…? “Did you really think it would be that easy to get rid of the bound between us?” she asked.

He smiled. It seemed he had indeed underestimated it. “Princess, coming after me, you are so foolish. Do you never learn?”

“I know where I want to be. Where I always wanted to be. It’s always been by your sides. It was then, just how it is now. I was….never being subjected to this. In the end, I was always right where I wanted to be. So, let me stay by your side. This time around, let’s be together, Rafayel.”

“You are asking for such a dangerous thing, your highness.” He bent toward her, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, his voice softening. “I might still take your heart.”

“You may take it whenever you wish. After all, it’s yours. My heart is yours.”

He pressed his lips against hers as if sealing a promise, the promise of forever. He held her, his arms trembling slightly, as if scared she’d vanish if he let go.

The Assassin and the Princess left Philos. They travelled, together. And wherever they went, everyone could witness the exact same thing. The Princess strolling forward, with her Assassin right by her side. And the last sight of them ever witnessed was just that.